By Katie Ellington, Staff Writer
Fake news isn’t new—people have manipulated the truth for selfish reasons since the beginning of time. Nevertheless, fake news is a bigger issue now than ever before. Tools like blogs, video editing software and social media are widely available and make it easier to create and share authentic-looking fake news. So how do we distinguish the real from the fake?
JOURNALISM 101
The news is nothing without sources—the people and organizations that give journalists the information they use to write a story. If an article or video lacks quotes from authoritative and credible sources, you should question its validity. Statistics and research also need to be checked for credibility. Fake news articles may have fake sources, so it never hurts to check and make sure a source is real. This can often be done with a quick Google search.
When you’re reading or watching the news, it’s also important to understand what type of journalism is being presented. News is meant to be factual and unbiased, free of the author’s personal opinions. On the other hand, bias and persuasion are permitted in opinion journalism. There’s absolutely nothing unethical about arguing from a particular viewpoint in an editorial, letter to the editor or on news commentary and talk shows. Pundits and commentators aren’t a source of unbiased reporting, although good ones will base their arguments in fact.
GET YOUR NEWS FROM RELIABLE OUTLETS
In November 2016, NPR ran a story about Jestin Coler, an ordinary man living in the suburbs of Los Angeles with his wife and two children. During the 2016 presidential election, Coler created the “Denver Guardian,” an imaginary news site that had the convincing appearance of a local news outlet—complete with the local weather. The Denver Guardian only ran one story: “FBI Agent Suspected In Hillary Email Leaks Found Dead In Apparent Murder-Suicide.” The story was completely false, but it generated 1.6 million pageviews in 10 days.
When reading or watching the news, ask yourself if the news media outlet is both real and credible. Outlets like the Denver Guardian can look very convincing, so if you still don’t know, try searching for the story on other news sites. If it hasn’t been covered by any established, reputable news organizations, it’s probably not real. Sources like The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, The Economist, the BBC, USA Today, NBC, CBS, ABC, Reuters, TIME, the Atlantic, Politico, the LA Times and verified local news outlets are usually trustworthy. Snopes.com is great for fact-checking. Activist groups also publish articles, and they publish news-like articles and blog posts written from a very limited point of view. If a story is labeled “sponsored content,” that means a company (usually an advertiser) has paid the news outlet to run it.
Lastly, it’s important to remember that even credible news organizations are subject to bias. Reporting requires making choices about who gets interviewed, what information is most relevant and how stories should be organized. Ethical reporters do the best they can to report honestly and fairly, but bias can still creep in. If you want to be well-informed, you simply have to get your news from more than one source. You don’t have to read every single newspaper and watch multiple newscasts every night, but make sure you are getting news from at least two or three different outlets. Following trustworthy news media organizations on Facebook or Twitter is an easy way to integrate a diverse flow of news into your social media feed.
KNOW YOUR BIASES
The potential bias of news media isn’t the only one you need to worry about. Knowing your own biases is also a key to being an informed citizen and a critical thinker. We are less likely to question a fake news story, or even a biased story, if it supports our own beliefs. Research on this principle, known as the “backfire effect,” shows that being proven wrong can actually cause us to become more entrenched in our beliefs. We look for ways to ignore the facts or diminish their implications. This is the reason why fake news creators spend lots of time and energy targeting stories to specific audiences—fake news spreads quickest among an audience willing to accept it as fact.
How can we be less susceptible to the misguidance of our own biases? Read news stories that challenge your point of view, and do so with an open mind. Apply the same scrutiny to a story that supports your viewpoint as to one that doesn’t. And last but not least, check the credibility of any news story before you share it on social media.
Photo courtesy of Foter
